


One Month

by redhonedge



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: M/M, hardenshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-08 23:50:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10398948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhonedge/pseuds/redhonedge
Summary: after mysteriously being locked in a storage closet together (aka, archie trapping them together completely on accident), one thing leads to another.or rather, it leads to maxie unwittingly challenging archie to getting them into a committed relationship in one month.as anticipated, insanity ensues.( hardenshipping ; multi-chaptered and still updating! )





	1. Chapter One

“I hate you.”  
“I know that already, Maxie. You’ve said it plenty of times—“  
“No, you cannot exactly _fathom_ how deep my hatred is. No matter how many times you may have heard it, you will never truly grasp it.”

That was how it was going to begin.  
But wasn’t that how it originally began, their rivalry, their fierce competition to outbest one another in their goals of expansion of the sea and land?  
Truly opposites and constantly at one another’s throats in their own way, it had all begun with a bitter hatred churned up by their disagreements.  
And now, that was how it was going to begin a grueling period of time spent in a _closet._

It was not quite fitting of the title ‘broom’, but nor was it quite at ‘walk-in’—it was safe to call it a medium, right in between the two and leaving very little room for two grown men to shift, but plenty for them to be squished together and still remain alive.  
Maxie, jamming himself as tightly as was humanly possible against the wall, leered at his closet companion, who leant up against the wall, looking comfortable in his sitting position while Maxie remained curled into himself.  
“If you hadn’t pushed me into here—“  
“Me? Pushing _you_? You tripped and dragged me in here with you!”  
  
Maxie, wanting to claw out Archie’s eyes within this close proximity, rattled the door handle helplessly. Locked. How in the world was it locked when it had only shut behind them?  
“Either way, we’re stuck,” Maxie announced grimly, as if this was truly the end. His facial expression said it all, his sinking despair of being confined to such close quarters with an imbecile. Archie, doubting Maxie’s announcement, tried the handle as well, and then remembered.  
“… It automatically locks,” he realized, Maxie looking over sharply.  
“What?”  
“The closet—er, well, this is more of a storage unit.”  
Archie took a moment to evaluate the steel interior, the ‘closet’, or rather storage unit, currently vacated of what it had been holding.  
“It had been holding some parts for the submarine and I didn’t want them stolen, so it automatically locks itself when it’s closed…”  
  
Resisting the urge to bash his head against the wall until falling unconscious—far preferred over being in this situation—Maxie pursed his lips.  
“And is there anyone who is around who could possibly get us out?”  
Archie smiled sheepishly.  
“When I found out you lot had invaded the base, I, uh, told everyone to move out.”  
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe at Maxie’s look of undiluted rage, for a moment thinking he really was going to be smacked when Maxie sighed, taking an incredibly deep breath and holding it for a moment.  
Exhaling, long and slow, his eyes flickered back to the steel-enforced door, evaluating it.  
“This space is too small for Camerupt,” he muttered, thinking about the pokemon’s Flamethrower. It could easily melt down the door, but even if the space was big enough, they’d be trapped in an inferno of heat. The consequences were worse than the outcome, so he discarded that idea.  
“And despite your body-building fetish, you don’t have enough muscle to take down this door…”  
“Hey!”

Ignoring Archie’s protesting cry, considering how unbeneficial it was to this whole fiasco, Maxie rapped his knuckles against the door.  
Solid.  
Even better, there truly was no escape, especially with there being no method of picking the door handle from the outside. The lock was on the exterior, obviously not planning ahead to any fools that may get themselves stuck.  
Realizing that they were the fools, Maxie grimaced—it wasn’t entirely his fault, it was mostly Archie’s anyways.  
He had been walking towards him, his foot had gotten stuck on the stupid grating of the floor, the closet was open, and, well, apparently Archie wasn’t quite ready to brace himself when he was grabbed onto…

Folding his legs closer to his chest, Maxie sighed, figuring that all hope was lost, or at least until one of his grunts found them.  
Hopefully his team was still scouring the vicinity. He had told them to look for any abandoned, vital documents to Aqua’s plans, but who knew how long that would take?  
Their base was considerably large and it was debatable whether they’d be found that promptly.  
  
“… Maxie, look at me.”

On reflex did Maxie look over at Archie, not necessarily out of response to the command, scowling at the Aqua leader.  
“Looking at you isn’t going to help us in this dire situation,” he growled, his aggressive stance quickly switching to defensive as Archie leaned forward, Maxie leaning back in correspondence.  
“Please tell me you haven’t gone mad already from this small space,” Maxie muttered, wincing as palms pressed tight to the sides of his face, Maxie feeling his cheeks squished under calloused skin as a rage began to boil up in his chest.  
“If you do not let go of me in ten seconds…” he muttered darkly, his fury becoming only worse as a grin split Archie’s face.  
“You have _freckles!_ ”  
  
Maxie blinked, baffled as to what Archie was talking about, and then–  
“Y-you’re seeing things!” he stuttered, quickly trying to swat away those much-stronger hands and cover up his face, squirming to get away, but alas, the closet was not bending and shaping itself as he would have preferred.  
He was pinned, Archie’s superior stature keeping him fixed against the wall as his face became brighter and brighter with humiliation, and Archie’s delighted expression didn’t help it.

“You have _freckles_ and I didn’t even notice!” Archie repeated, laughing hysterically as if it were the best thing he had ever discovered.  
Were those tears Maxie saw in his eyes from how intensely he was laughing?  
Feeling a mix of anger, humiliation, and sheer desperation to go hide somewhere, Maxie finally managed to push Archie away as his hands became weakened by his gut-wrenching laughter, Archie thumping back against his wall as he shook.  
“Y-you, were you wearing _make-up_ before to cover that shit up? I didn’t know you were that self-conscious, Maxie.”  
He snorted, having difficulty even speaking as he choked out words around his giggles, the heels of his palms rubbing away tears as Maxie tried to push himself further up against the wall.

“I-I—I have _never—_ you’re just… you’re just blind!” Maxie sputtered helplessly, his face feeling as if it were on fire as Archie’s laughter simmered down to the occasional chuckle and then to nothing but a huge, satisfied grin.  
“Maybe this closet thing has paid off after all. Never thought I’d get so close ‘n personal with you of all people, Maxie,” Archie snorted with a happy sigh, his mood lifted by his discovery as he wiped away the last of his tears of laughter.  
“D’you always try to cover ‘em up, or only when around me, huh, Maxie?”  
Upper lip curling back, Maxie felt his hands pulse with the need to throttle Archie.  
“When did you become so fixated on this topic?!”  
“It’s okay, Maxie, I understand now. You’re trying to impress me, so you’ve been coverin’ up! I’d want to impress me, too. I’m a pretty great guy.”

Maxie could actually feel his eye twitching.  
The surge of emotions, of the anger, humiliation, somehow had caused his eye to being _twitching._

He would not live another ten minutes in this closet.  
He’d find a way to end it all, whether it is his life, or Archie’s. Preferably Archie’s—he still had things to do.  
“I’m—I’ve never been trying to impress you, you are the _last_ person I would want to impress,” Maxie fiercely corrected, Archie unconvinced, scooting closer.  
“What, no, don’t get closer I didn’t—Stop that!”  
Archie grabbed onto Maxie’s shoulders and dragged him closer, pressing him to his side with an arm hugging him snugly.  
Maxie, on the other hand, was pushing against him, fruitlessly trying to escape to the now vacated other side of the closet.

“That’s so cute, you’re even trying to deny it!” sighed Archie, Maxie staring down the hand on his shoulder, debating whether or not to bite it. “Did you start up your team to get my attention? You must have been really smitten when you had first seen me, all those years ago. Wow, that explains a _lot—_ Christ!”  
Archie’s babbling ended in a pained yelp as Maxie sank his teeth into his hand, the Aqua leader snapping back up his arm as he gawked at the blood dripping down from the back of his hand.  
“People don’t bite the person they have a crush on, Maxie!” he wheezed, taking off his bandana to wrap it. He was more than willing to sacrifice it—he had plenty more back home.  
“I _do not_ have a crush on you, you egotistical idiot,” Maxie huffed, grimacing at the metallic taste of the blood in his mouth as he crept back over to the side Archie had abandoned. Jamming himself up in the corner, he was tempted to spit out Archie’s tainted blood, but he did not want to have to sit with it.  
Begrudgingly, he swallowed, gagging a little in the process.  
Disgusting.  
  
Neatly ripped and tying a shred of his bandana around the teeth marks, Archie double-checked his knot before turning his attention on Maxie, who looked sullen sitting in his corner.  
“… So you don’t have a crush on me,” Archie mused, Maxie glaring at him.  
“You are an egomaniac if you think I do. Did you not hear me talk about how much I hate you?”  
“I bet I could change that.”  
  
Blinking, Maxie stared at Archie, baffled.  
“You can’t just change how someone feels, especially someone who hates you—“  
Archie seemed to just love cutting him off in the middle of talking, though this time Maxie went from huffy and displeased to terrified as hands slammed against the steel wall above him. He could feel the vibrations through his back, shrinking down while still trying to look confident as he peered up at Archie.  
Hovering above him, he blocked what light there was from the single lightbulb above them, becoming nothing more than a silhouette as he dipped down.  
“Give me a month,” he stated, less of a suggestion and more of a demand.  
“One month and I’ll get you to change your mind on that.”

Maxie blinked, though remembering the hand hovering above his head that could ever-so-easily smash down, he just huffed.  
“Whatever. I don’t care,” he muttered, tensing as one of the hands did drop, expecting to be struck for his less-than-pleasing answer.  
Instead, Archie’s rough, worn fingertips brushed along his jaw, a shiver going down Maxie’s spine at the sensation.  
“Then it’s a deal,” purred Archie, his voice deepening, becoming strangely rich as he leaned in closer. Maxie had no room to flee, only able to stare wide-eyed as Archie gradually closed the distance between them, feeling his heart thump hard in his chest as the distance became a good ten inches, five, two—

“Boss?”  
  
Maxie almost started weeping and praising all the gods in existence, looking over and seeing one of his grunts standing at the now open closet door.  
The interruption caused Archie to also look over, providing Maxie the time to push him back and scrabble to his feet, darting out of the small closet space.  
“Thank god you got here in time—this _pervert_ locked me in there with him. I can only imagine what he might have accomplished had you not come in time,” Maxie sighed in relief, shuddering towards the end as he looked back towards Archie.  
Several more grunts were approaching, Maxie turning away dismissively.  
“Dump him out in the ocean near Mossdeep, where he belongs,” he ordered, and as he looked back with the satisfaction of having the control this time, he twitched, seeing Archie grinning back at him.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, Maxie,” he hummed, Maxie grimacing before turning away, hearing a grunt as he was knocked out and his body hitting the ground before he was dragged off to be dealt with.  
He sincerely doubted he’d be seeing him again anytime soon.

—

And Maxie had been correct.  
For a good few weeks after Archie had been dumped off near Mossdeep, as his grunts had been tasked with, he lived a relatively tranquil life. Well, as tranquil as it could possibly be while quarreling with Team Aqua and trying to further their plans, returning home almost every night exhausted and drained from the day’s events.  
Weeks ticked by, his mind no longer clutching as fearfully to the thought that Archie would find him and fulfill his promise, instead focused on the problems at hand.

They were nigh upon completing their plans, having discovered that the Blue Orb atop Mt. Pyre would be the key element in reviving Groudon—however, apparently, Team Aqua had discovered that as well, finding the information that the opposite orb, the Red Orb, would revive Kyogre.  
Even with the urgency to get there first, they still needed more time.  
They weren’t ready quite yet to control Groudon, and even then, they would need to go to Mt. Pyre on a day of low visitation—someone would surely try to contact the police, and the fewer people there, the easier it would be to round them up and place them elsewhere while they accomplished their goals.

The premises of their base were primarily empty.  
He had many of the grunts to scour and investigate Lilycove, figure out when Mt. Pyre was at its busiest and when it was at its lowest point in activity.  
Left behind within their base hidden within Mt. Chimney, Maxie was weighted with the task of organizing the whole fiasco of invading Mt. Pyre—there was quite a bit of planning behind every movement.  
It had to be done just right else they’d crash and burn, left behind with nothing more than shame and bitter defeat. It had happened before. But this time, he wanted it to go flawlessly.

Pacing down the corridor, the hallway brightly illuminated despite the lack of windows anywhere—they were, after all, hidden within the mountain itself, the only lighting coming from what they had brought in. Admittedly, the feeling of there being no escape to the outside other than the front entrance and a secret tunnel out the back made him feel claustrophobic, despite his strong affinity with land.  
Even the thing you loved would kill you if given the opportunity.

Footsteps echoing against the polished tiles, Maxie paused, his stride faltering.  
There was another set of footsteps, faster, too fast, and all he was doing was standing still—

Twisting around, all he saw was a flash of blue, and a shit-eating grin before the world went black.

—

His head was _pounding._

The low, pulsating throb that went from one temple, straight through his skull to the other was enough to make Maxie grip his head the moment he awoke. While the pain was enough to distract him from trying to figure out where he was for a few moments, he managed to endure it long enough to open his eyes, dizzily surveying his environment.  
Some bastard had managed to steal away into their base, and of course it had to be when he had been at his weakest point, when no one else had been around.  
  
The fog that blurred his vision fading, Maxie finding himself with a sideways view of a… Living room?  
Hands falling away from his head, they pushed against soft cushions beneath him, heaving up in confusion.  
He wasn’t in the ocean, or even better, some desert somewhere.  
Instead, he was on a dark, navy-blue sofa in a casually decorated living room that was messy.  
God, it was like he was in some twenty year old’s bachelor pad—there was a shirt draped over the arm of the couch he was laying on, the TV was still running, an old beer bottle sat on the coffee table with no coaster, there were some socks on the creamy-white carpet, and—

“You’re awake.”

His internal complaints of how dirty the living room was were silenced, Maxie slowly turning, considering if he turned far more sharply, his head would only pound worse.  
“ _You,_ ” he hissed, snarling at the sight of Archie, who was beaming at him, plopping down on the couch next to him. Jerking away, curling up against the arm of the couch while still trying not to agitate his head too much, Maxie sent him an accusatory look.  
“You, you’re the one who got into our base—how did you— _you knocked me out—“  
“_Just payback for what you did you me,” Archie dismissed with a shrug, shifting something he had in his hands. Maxie wasn’t paying attention, his fury too great.  
“Now we’re even.”  
“We are not even! We will never be even! We will not—“  
He stuttered to a halt as Archie got even closer, pressing a warm, wet cloth against his temple.  
  
“Stop that—what are you doing?” Maxie hissed, flinching as Archie shifted into a far more comfortable position next to him.  
“You got a headache, right? I know I did when I woke up from where your grunts ditched me,” dryly Archie responded. “All I’m doin’ is trying to help— _I_ took a hot shower to help with mine, though I doubt you wanna do that, do you?”  
Grinning at Maxie’s mortified look, Archie chuckled, patting Maxie’s cheek with his free hand affectionately.  
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”  
  
Maxie, sputtering, could barely respond as Archie picked up his hand, placing it over the cloth as he took back his own.  
“Hold that there,” Archie ordered, Maxie only able to gawk as he stood back up, going back behind the couch. Maxie turned to watch where he went, seeing an open kitchen that directly connected to the living room. The entire house seemed spacious and interconnected—he could see the front door and another small room nearby that surprisingly seemed far less messy, and when he turned back around, there was a hallway.  
He spotted a bedroom at the end of it, seeing a bit of a bed, but he went right back to following Archie with his eyes, not trusting him for a single second.  
  
“Why am I here?” Maxie finally demanded, watching as Archie took out a pitcher of water from his fridge, pouring a glass.  
“Mm?”  
Archie perked up, looking over before he registered the question.  
“You gave me a month. The month is starting now.”  
Maxie blinked, not sure he had heard him right as Archie headed back, sputtering as he sat down.

“N-no, that isn’t how it works, I have _plans,_ there are things to be done—“  
“Mt. Pyre ain’t goin’ anywhere.”  
Maxie paused, looking slowly over at Archie, who boasted a devilish smile.  
He could feel his throat tightening with his anger and frustration, wanting to scream, but nothing was coming out besides, “ _You—“_  
The glass of water Archie had brought with him was being forced into his free hand, the other still, strangely, holding the warm cloth to his head. It did admittedly feel nice, and even if it had come from Archie, he was only doing this for himself.  
“Drink,” chirruped Archie. “It’ll help with the headache. And trust me—it is better to just drink that instead of arguin’ with me.”  
Maxie leered.  
“You drugged it.”  
“You saw me pour it.”  
“You drugged the entire pitcher beforehand.”  
  
By that point Archie’s smile was gone, his face bored, not finding Maxie’s bickering funny.  
“If I wanted to do anything, I would’ve done it while you were conked out. It’d be a waste of my time just drugging you to do something—and trust me, that isn’t very romantic, is it?”  
Archie smiled again and Maxie, to swallow the rising scream in his throat, turned away, downing the glass.  
“I’m drinking this because I want to, not because of you,” Maxie added after half the glass had been chugged, having to stop to breathe.  
Archie’s smile was becoming annoying.  
“I’m sure, Maxie,” Archie hummed, Maxie’s teeth digging into the edge of the glass as he polished it off, none-too-carefully hucking it back at Archie.  
It was caught, though not before what remained spilled across Archie’s pants—alas, he didn’t seem that bothered, shrugging faintly before setting it on the coffee table next to the empty beer bottle.  
Maxie felt like cracking the bottle over his head and bailing.

“I don’t want to be here,” he stated plainly, and Archie nodded slightly.  
“I know.”  
“Then I’m going to leave. I have things to do.”  
Archie smiled, leaning back against the couch, his arms comfortably settled along the back.  
“I brought you here so you couldn’t do shit. I know you want to go to Mt. Pyre, and so do I—but guess what, you’re gonna be stuck here. With me. For a month.”  
Maxie, swallowing his rage, tried to speak in level tones, pressing the cloth harder to his head as he looked at Archie.  
“That is insane—you’re crazy if you think you can just _keep me_ here for an entire _month_ of all things… What are you even _thinking_?”

Archie looked so cocky, leaning back against his couch, grinning as he always did.  
Maxie wanted to dig his nails into the skin of his face, make him suffer for how arrogant he was, how self-confident he always was. It made his skin crawl, made so uncomfortable by his behavior.  
“What I’m thinking?”  
His ravings of how much he loathed every little thing about Archie stopped, the curiosity that plagued him demanding to know why Archie kept him here.  
“I told you, I’d make you love me.”  
Twitching, Maxie scoffed, turning his head away as he looked at the TV, its low drone filling his ears.  
  
“Impossible,” he groaned, flinching where he sat when Archie leaned forward, suddenly serious.  
“If you fall in love with me by the end of the month, you have to stick with me,” Archie informed him as if it were factual, Maxie looking back to leer at him.  
“And if I don’t?”  
“You can leave, go to Mt. Pyre, and we’ll go about our business.”  
Maxie blinked, staring at Archie intently, searching out for the lie in his eyes.  
“… You’ll just… Let me leave?” he repeated slowly. “Do what I want? Take what I need from Mt. Pyre and not try to stop my team?”  
Archie nodded confirmation, though his tone was warning as he added, “But if you fall in love with me–“  
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m stuck with you. Seems easy enough.”  
  
Maxie pushed himself up so that his back rested against one of the couch pillows, looking back to the TV.  
“Sorry to tell you, Archie, but you have set yourself up for failure. I hope you are ready for my rejection in a month.”  
Smiling, Archie got up, reaching out and letting his fingertips gloss over Maxie’s hair, feeling the other man tense.  
“You’ll be surprised, I’m sure, _love,_ ” Archie purred, walking away to put the empty glass thrown at him back in the kitchen.  
He could feel Maxie’s eyes burning holes into his back.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maxie made the poor mistake of accepting archie’s challenge of getting them into a committed relationship in a month’s time.  
> this is only day two of said month, and maxie is already losing his mind, slowly, but surely.  
> it doesn’t help that archie is hardly the charmer.

“You’ll be staying here.”  
  
Maxie stared blankly at the cozy-looking guest room that was surprisingly immaculate compared to the rest of Archie’s home. It had the basic necessities—a dresser, bed, and a wardrobe to fill in for a lack of closet. Still, it was painted with the same theme of blue with the rest of the house. Even the décor within, including the bed cover, was some shade of blue or a complimentary color of it.  
At least the window on the far left wall had a nice view of outside.  
From the angle that he could see it from the door, he saw what appeared to be Archie’s backyard and a minimalistic garden.  
Already he knew what he was going to be spending his time most with.

Silent, his eyes scouring every nook and cranny, or rather the lack thereof, he looked back to a smiling Archie, his face not nearly as pleasant.  
“That’s nice and all, but I still need clothes. I’m not going to be wearing the same set of clothing all the time.”  
There was a silent hope that he had somehow set back the other man in his thoughtless planning, but with a look of consideration and a nod of agreement, Archie dismissed it easily.  
“We’ll go shopping then.”  
  
Mouth opening and closing, Maxie couldn’t find a sufficient argument to fill the empty air.  
“But—I’ll try to escape!”  
“You really think I’ll just let you run off?”  
“It is probably too late to go shopping.”  
“Actually, it is almost two, and I think now’s a good time.”  
Maxie kept himself from grimacing. He had no sense of time, considering he had been knocked out what felt like hours ago and who knew how long he had been unconscious.  
Everything felt like it was going so fast, from waking up on Archie’s couch, to now suddenly it being early enough to be shopping, of all things.  
  
Settling for a scowl that rivaled the pleasant beam Archie boasted, Maxie folded his arms over his chest, looking back into the room.  
“The room looks terrible,” he grumbled dismally, unable to conjure any kind of retort. It was pitiful to be insulting the décor of a room in a house that wasn’t even his, though he couldn’t manage much else.  
Ignoring the attempt at an insult Maxie made, Archie took the opportunity of his distraction to grab on his arm and drag him away from the room he’d be staying in back into the living room down the hall.  
“How’s your head feeling? Think you need some ibuprofen?” Archie asked, letting go of Maxie to turn off the television.

“What I need is for you to get out of my hair,” Maxie huffed, Archie staring at him for a long moment.  
“… Alright, no ibuprofen then. Well,” Archie grabbed a coat that was thrown over an armchair, pulling it over his t-shirt, “Let’s go. Lilycove ain’t far from here and it’ll be nice to go for a walk.”  
Maxie didn’t look nearly as agreeable, thus the only choice for Archie being to reach out and grab his hand again.  
Seeing it coming, the redhead snapped his arm back, causing Archie to blink in surprise.  
“I can walk without you holding my hand as if I’m a child,” growled Maxie, striding past Archie towards the front of the house.  
He could almost taste freedom, but as Archie caught up, he felt it die on his tongue as the other man opened the door.  
Stepping back, grandly waving the hand not holding the door, Archie smiled.

“Less hand-holding, got it. But, after you.”  
  
Maxie tried to find the sarcasm in that remark, leering at Archie’s face as he sought out some sort of mocking look. All he saw was genuine and he simply looked away, heading out first.  
The door clicked shut behind as Archie followed suit, Maxie busy taking in the details of where Archie’s home was situated.  
From the looks of their environment, it was close to Lilycove—typical, for him to be living so close to the sea. Otherwise, it was embedded in the wilderness, yet not too far from civilization if he needed to go out on excursions such as this one.  
Smart.

“Admiring the scenery?”  
Archie stood nearby, looking almost impatient as Maxie took his time with absorbing all of the details of his environment.  
“Just trying to figure out the best route of escape,” Maxie dryly responded, begrudgingly turning and walking after Archie. He was somewhat thankful that he wasn’t so deep into the wilderness that they would have to trek through pokemon-infested forests and tall grass.  
Speaking of…  
He reached down to his belt, and found the pokeballs there before he had been knocked unconscious were gone.

“What did you do to my pokemon?”  
His voice came as a low hiss, Archie perking up from their walk, his eyes focused on the distant Mt. Pyre. The ferry that had once been running to allow passage to the other side and thus to Lilycove was no longer running, his mind drifting to his Sharpedo, but with Maxie’s eyes leering at him he knew he couldn’t remain silent for long.  
“They are in a safe place,” he assured, finding the pokeball that contained his Sharpedo as they approached the dock.  
“You didn’t just dump them into the ocean?”  
  
Appearing insulted, Archie gave Maxie a long look before shaking his head.  
“I’m not that much of an ass,” he grunted, throwing the pokeball containing his Sharpedo up into the air. In a burst of red light that snaked down to the water, the pokemon emerged, opening its jaws excitedly as it bobbed in the waters.  
Maxie eye-balled it with caution, noting the sharp fangs that he had heard were capable of tearing through sheets of metal. He didn’t exactly feel like having it try doing the same with one of his limbs.  
“Maybe we shouldn’t go shopping after all,” the redhead offered up when realizing that the intent was to ride Archie’s Sharpedo to the other dock just around Mt. Pyre, looking nervous as he took a step back.

“What? Kaito is pretty reliable, Maxie,” Archie bent down, reaching out and rubbing Kaito’s snout, the Sharpedo growling happily, “Unless you’re just scared of the water?”  
Flinching, it was Maxie’s turn to look indignant as he leered at Archie.  
“I’m not afraid of the water. I’m afraid of that pokemon of yours taking a bite out of me!”  
Kaito peered up, its pleasant look turning to disdain as it recognized the man whose pokemon it frequently had been set against.  
The slowly developing vicious look was stopped with a rough push from Archie, the Sharpedo shaking itself, looking sullen as it was glared at.

“Kaito will play nice,” Archie soothed, wanting to get a move on. Maxie had yet to budge, staring down Kaito and Archie.  
Righting himself, giving one last pat to Kaito, Archie took a few steps towards the redhead, who wore a cautious look, his eyes following his every movement.  
“If I wanted to hurt ya, I would’ve done it when I knocked you out.”  
Extending a hand to Maxie, Archie raised his eye brows, waiting to see whether or not Maxie would continue to back out.  
Eyes falling down to the offered hand, Maxie’s lips thinned, drawing tight over his teeth as he weighed his options in his mind.

Caving with a sigh, he narrowed his eyes as he accepted Archie’s hand, tempted to dig in his fingernails to show him how little he trusted him.  
“If it dumps me into the water—“ he threatened, Archie waving his free hand as he tugged Maxie back to the edge of the dock, Kaito lining himself up length-wise against it.  
“He won’t,” Archie assured, patting Maxie’s hand soothingly. Judging by the redhead’s dark look, it hadn’t done much, so Archie just smiled sweetly before letting go.  
Folding his arms over his chest as he watched Archie slip onto the back of his Sharpedo with a practiced ease, Maxie still felt wary of getting onto the water-type.

What if he was dumped into the water?  
Or worse, the pokemon freaked out and attacked him?  
Just because Archie claimed it would be fine didn’t mean it necessarily would be. That Sharpedo loathed him and there was only so much Archie could control.

“You comin’?”  
  
Maxie blinked out of his stupor, seeing Archie again offering his hand to him, looking curious. Grimacing, not looking excited in the slightest, he begrudgingly took his hand.  
The soft, gentle grip that encompassed his palm became firm, Maxie looking down in confusion. His confusion faded quite quickly when he was tugged harshly forward, yelping as he lost his balance on the dock. Any escape was futile now as he plummeted down, closing his eyes tightly within the few milliseconds he had before his certain impact with water–  
Archie, still maintaining his grip on Maxie’s hand, reached out with his other arm, snagging him around his waist and pulling him to Kaito, keeping Maxie from what felt like his death sentence in the water.  
“Gotcha!” proclaimed Archie with pride, holding onto Maxie while the redhead dug his fingers almost painfully into his shoulders, looking a little more than ruffled after his rather short fall.

“Don’t do that _ever_ again,” he hissed, staring down at the water and then at Kaito, slowly shifting so that he was no longer clutching onto Archie for dear life but rather settled on the pokemon itself. ‘Uncomfortable’ wasn’t quite a strong enough word to describe how he felt.  
It more so felt like, ‘I’m going to die in about thirty seconds’.  
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Archie hummed, Kaito making a noise of discontent as he felt Maxie try to find a decent position on the Sharpedo that wouldn’t result in him falling off.  
Settled behind Archie, Maxie’s hands felt tentatively along the sides of Kaito until he felt his wrists snagged, eyes widening as Archie purposefully moved his arms so that instead of gripping onto the Sharpedo, he was made to hold onto the man sitting in front.

“Your arms go here,” Archie instructed, luckily unable to see the look of revolt on Maxie’s face.  
“I am _not_ holding onto you like some woman would hold onto a man when—“ Maxie began to rave, his voice gradually rising in pitch with his frustration.  
He practically bit his own tongue when Kaito suddenly surged forward, promptly eating his own words as he clutched onto Archie with his fear of falling intensifying.  
Had he seen Archie’s big grin, he would have probably slapped it right off his face, though for the time being he was engrossed with not being dumped into the water as Kaito expertly navigated around Mt. Pyre to the other dock.  
It was only a short few minutes to get around and by that point Maxie was entirely frazzled, not excited with having being coerced into this.

Pulling up alongside the dock, Maxie did not wait for Archie—he was back on the dock before the other man could even turn around, Archie gawking.  
“… When did you become so quick?”  
Maxie, sitting on the dock a good distance away from the edge, leered at him.  
“Alright, alright. Bad question to ask.”  
Getting onto the dock, Archie rubbed Kaito’s snout, cooing some sweet things to the Sharpedo before recalling him back to his pokeball.

“Alright, Lilycove isn’t too far from here,” mused Archie, watching Maxie get to his feet and brush himself off, still looking quite indignant.  
“By the way, I’m not buying you anything that has red on it.”  
The nasty look from Maxie was easily dismissed as Archie nudged him forward, guiding him into the direction of Lilycove.  
“I’m not that obsessed with the color red,” snippily Maxie answered him as they fell into step together, his tone insulted.  
The pathway had become far more beaten down, their environment changing from looking apart of the wilderness to more influenced by man. There were berry plants alongside the path the further they went, flowers lining the worn dirt that had obviously been beaten down by many passerby.  
Not too far away, Maxie could see the arched gateway that led into the city, also surrounded by blooming berry bushes.  
  
“I think that’s debatable,” Archie shot back, smiling even with the permanently dark look on Maxie’s face.  
“Y’know, people are gonna give you funny looks if you are just glaring at everything all the time.”  
Maxie’s glare deepened into a scowl, the sound of ocean waves and light talk becoming far more prevalent. Lilycove was alive with tourist activity, its Contest Hall looking especially busy today as Archie looked over to evaluate it. Foreigners came across the region and from other regions beyond their oceans to see where contests had first originated.  
It also helped that Lilycove boasted the largest shopping mall in all of Hoenn, that in itself drawing Hoenn natives to splurge on things not available in their own towns.

Maxie’s eyes homed in on some children grooming their pokemon, sitting together in the soft grass away from the cobblestone pathways. Their chatter was too soft for him to hear, but his memories were enough to fill in the gaps, watching one little girl petting the head of her all-too happy looking Numel.  
They all seemed so blissfully ignorant of the world, at peace with what they had as they surely discussed their future careers in this world of pokemon.  
“Maxie, the mall’s up there.”  
The look of yearning Maxie hadn’t realized had developed on his face returned to a scowl, looking up to Archie halfway up the path to the large shopping center mounted on the hillside of Lilycove.  
Embedded in nature, the grandeur buildings still seemed to meld into the ocean side, allowing nature to still bloom while they worked around it.

“I’m coming.”  
Archie smiled, ignoring the snippy tone of Maxie as he went right on by, going on ahead to the mall. He would have called him far earlier, but—such thoughtful looks were a rarity unseen before.  
Perhaps these moments would be key in unlocking Maxie’s mind.

Trailing after, Archie was smart enough not to look too pleased when the redhead glanced back, leering at him venomously before deciding it wasn’t worth his time.  
Looking up at the tall shopping center, only able to see clearly into the first few stories, the other windows were too distant to provide a proper viewing of what was within.  
“I haven’t been in here in years,” mumbled Maxie, Archie finding his stride with him as the automatic doors slid open for them, revealing the main lobby.  
Two receptionists were working the front desk, one occupied with helping a woman and her child figure out what floor they needed to go while the other was monitoring a computer.

“Welcome to the Lilycove Department Store!” the receptionist on the left chirruped, her face bright and energetic. The male receptionist peered up, smiled, and then went back to his conversation.  
As anticipated, it was relatively busy—the lobby was brimming with tourists and native alike, though regularly they sifted out, either leaving the store with bags in hand or taking the stairs and elevators up to their desired floor.  
“How may I help you today?”  
  
Maxie let his bitter-looking expression vanish as some children began peering over at him with questioning, confused eyes, obviously nigh upon asking their parents why he looked to be in such a foul mood. Not desiring the attention, he settled with a far more neutral look as Archie asked about a section of the mall that was dedicated to clothes shopping.  
Like before, the receptionist’s response was peppy and quick, Archie nodding and thanking her before motioning to Maxie to join him by the elevator.  
Pressing the button to call down an elevator, Archie peered curiously over at Maxie, who eventually became bothered by the silence.

“What?”  
“You don’t look as grouchy anymore.”  
Twitching, grinding his teeth together as he forced his neutral look to remain, Maxie raised an eye brow.  
“And?” he responded coldly, Archie shrugging, the elevator giving a low ‘ding’ as its doors opened.  
“You look nicer when you aren’t glaring at everything and everyone,” Archie dismissively answered, not losing a beat as he got into the elevator and pressed the button for the appropriate floor.  
“Number six,” he announced, watching the doors close, surprisingly no one hustling to try and get in as well. There was anyone getting off, either, so the ride was pleasantly quiet aside from the rumble of the elevator rising through the store.  
Maxie not once spoke up, not even to combat Archie’s remark, simply staring down the sleek steel doors until another low ‘ding’ announced their arrival and the doors slid open.  
  
A couple was standing in front of their path, kindly stepping to the aside to let them exit before they got on. Briefly, Maxie could see them kiss before the elevator doors shut again, internally cringing.  
Public displays of affection were disgusting—it would better to do them all a favor and keep it somewhere where no one could see it.

“Where do you wanna start?”  
Perking back up, Maxie let his eyes scour the entirety of the sixth floor dedicated to clothing with Archie’s thought-provoking question in mind.  
“… Let’s just start with shirts,” Maxie decided, seeing it was closest to the elevator and probably the easiest thing to start with.  
Grabbing the shopping cart from the multitude set up specifically next to the stairs and elevator, Maxie paused, giving Archie a hard stare.  
“You can go and do your own thing. I’ll get what I need, and we can buy it, and then go.”  
Archie blinked, his immediate thought wondering just how self-conscious Maxie happened to be, but shrugged.

“Whatever you wanna do, babe.”  
“Do _not_ call me ‘babe’!”  
An employee going by paused, looking over at them in confusion before shaking his head and keeping on, Maxie feeling his cheeks begin to burn as he turned sharply away.  
“We’ll meet back here, buy everything, and then go,” Maxie muttered, Archie watching as he delved into the section of shirts, tempted to give another shrug.  
Instead, he turned around, figuring he could go look for a new pair of shoes while Maxie did his thing.

—

“That was fast.”

His arms braced against the handle of the cart, Maxie gave Archie a blank look. He didn’t seem very amused.  
“I just grabbed what will last me,” Maxie curtly replied, looking back at the cart—seven pairs of pants, seven shirts, and then an assortment of other things such as belts, socks, and so forth.  
“And no matter what you think, I will be going back to my house, even if you have to supervise me, and getting my own clothing.”  
Archie rolled his eyes, digging out his wallet as he directed his thoughts to getting this all to the cashier and getting out of there.

“Whatever,” he grumbled, checking how much cash he had on him on their way to the register, neither looking especially happy.  
“At least you aren’t burning a hole into my wallet.”  
Well, to an extent.

The total was considerably high though luckily he had it on him, paying for everything, watching it be bagged and then heading back off for the elevator, Maxie looking reasonably relieved to be freed of the stress of shopping.  
One child had kept asking her mother if his hair was really that red or if it was a wig.  
Another employee had pestered him for some time if he wanted to try on other clothes.  
Nigh upon murdering someone that tried to speak to him next—besides Archie, whose pestering he had become almost numb to—Maxie felt relief as the elevator sank down to the lobby, the lack of obnoxious music drifting through it also another relief.  
The store really needed to find a new radio station to use.

The same receptionist from before bid them a fond, yet perky farewell as they headed out the way they came, Maxie sucking in the cool air as he felt relief at being freed sweep over him.  
His body seemed to feel the same as his stomach gave a loud, obnoxious growl, the redhead’s immediate reaction being to thump his free hand over his stomach as if that would silence it.

“Did that come from _you_?”  
Archie’s humored snort was enough to shatter Maxie’s slowly bettering mood, which plummeted as he snapped around, humiliation crossing his face.  
“I’ll have you know—“  
“Come on, it’s a good time to get something to eat.”  
Frazzled as his soon-to-be tongue lashing was interrupted, Maxie opened his mouth to try and protest in some way, find a method of continuing his verbal punishment of Archie, but he was effectively silenced by a light hand on his wrist guiding him off.  
“You like burgers, right? There’s this new joint that opened up and I’ve been dying to go—and I don’t see why this isn’t a good enough occasion.”

Taking Maxie’s silence as a, ‘Yes Archie I love burgers and your ideas are always fantastic’, Archie guided a semi-willing Maxie off back down the path and deeper into Lilycove.  
Glancing back down the path, the children Maxie had been observing before were gone, probably off at home to pursue whatever interests they had beyond playing with their companions. Frowning somewhat, Maxie wasn’t allowed to dwell on it long as Archie pulled a bit more firmly to draw his attention when his feet slowed.  
“No time to just stand around, gotta move,” Archie ushered, Maxie rolling his eyes heavily.  
“You’re an idiot.”

—

When he had envisioned going to some burger joint, Maxie had imagined actually remaining in said joint and eating said burgers.  
What hadn’t been on his mind was sitting on one of the many ledges on one of the many hillsides of Lilycove facing the ocean, legs dangling off with a paper bag between them.  
Pushing back the white wrapper, Archie bit into the large hamburger he had ordered, looking quite satisfied as he beamed, letting his legs sway.  
“This is good!” he proclaimed after swallowing, his stamp of approval apparently necessary to be heard.  
His own satisfaction far more quiet as he crunched down on a Kalos fry, Maxie focused his eyes instead on the distant horizon.

Even though the air was becoming far crisper, a chill breeze enough to send goose bumps up his neck, Maxie could quietly admit as he slowly ate that it was beautiful.  
The sun painted the formerly blue ocean dazzling colors of pinks and reds with hints of pastel blue still sneaking back in, glittering like a sea of rare gems.  
Watching the sun set over the ocean had never been at the top of his list, what with his absolute loathing of the ocean waters in general, but Maxie was more than capable of confessing how beautiful it was.  
Yet, beauty still could hold danger.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”  
Maxie bit down harder than he normally would into the burger he had barely gotten out, unable to speak with a mouthful so he just settled with a raised eye brow in question.  
Looking over at him and then back to the sunset, Archie looked nearly as wistful as Maxie was sure he had when watching those children play with their pokemon.  
“I remember going out all the time as a kid to watch the sun set. I thought that the ocean had managed to capture all that color and I even thought it turned the water into gemstones. Dumb, I know, but I remember wanting to go all the way out to the horizon and get one of those stones for myself, so I could hold all that beauty in my hands.”  
His words were slow and soft, a change from the upbeat, energetic tone he had been using for the entirety of the day.  
The switch in mood felt suitable in Maxie’s eyes, fitting for the calm hour in which all activity had been lulled down to nearly nothing.

His thoughts drifted of how they shared the same thought, of how it looked like there was a sea of beautiful stones instead of water at sunset, briefly wondering who all else thought the same.  
“It is pretty,” finally he agreed, his voice a murmur around his burger as he tried to not entirely seem like he had caved to Archie’s interests, especially regarding the ocean.  
It seemed that he was heard either way, though not harassed about it as Archie simply nodded; his eyes still fixed on the sun as it fell lower and lower.

By the hour of twilight they were throwing away their trash and preparing for the journey back to Archie’s home, bags in hand as they marched back out of Lilycove and to the dock near Mt. Pyre. Unlike the first time, Maxie wasn’t nearly as squirmy and anxiety-riddled when taking Kaito back around, though the gleam of caution had yet to fade from his eyes as the thought of falling haunted him.  
Less conversation was made and it became even less as they got closer to Archie’s house, nonexistent when the front door was being unlocked and when Maxie brushed by.  
His back still burned with Archie’s gaze following him, the heat of it almost enough to make him pause, look back and demand why he seemed so interested in watching him.

Swallowing the urge down, Maxie fled to the guest room he had been introduced to prior to put away his new clothes that he’d be wearing until he could get his own for the month long stay in this prison.  
This was still a prison, right?  
It wasn’t exactly the same—it just had the same end result of being incapable of leaving, of being trapped.  
Hanging up a shirt, a frown pressing itself into his lips, Maxie contemplated how he’d be able to endure Archie and his madness, for this was only the first day.  
At least it was February—the shortest month, which hopefully meant his imprisonment would not be long.  
All he had to do was ignore Archie’s advances, tell him that he was not in love with him—a ridiculous notion to begin with—and then return to Team Magma to carry out with his plans.

Team Magma.  
He paused in folding a pair of slacks, frowning. They had no idea where he was, or at least he thought they had no idea.  
Who knew what kind of message Archie might have sent to them letting them know where their leader was?  
  
Shaking his head, Maxie tucked away the pants, finding himself all too quickly done putting away what little clothing he had.  
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, his eyes drifted to the window where he had a good view of Archie’s backyard. The head of a large flower brushed the edge of the window, just barely within his sights, but enough of a hint of what kind of plant life was growing out there.

“I’m heading to bed.”  
“ _God_ —“  
Maxie tensed as Archie’s voice sliced cleanly through the silence, whipping around to see him in the doorway, leaning against the frame.  
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Maxie hissed, grimly reminded of Archie knocking him unconscious in the hallway of his base.  
“Sorry,” sheepishly Archie replied with a smile that matched his tone of voice.  
“Just wanted to let you know—it’s already kinda late and I know I’m tired, and you look tired too.”  
Maxie, looking briefly back to the window, just nodded, pursing his lips.

“I’m assuming tomorrow will be another long day of enduring you, so I should be heading to bed as well,” Maxie grimly decided, met with a grin that made him want to hit Archie as hard as he possibly could.  
“Yup,” Archie confirmed giddily, pulling back away from the doorway.  
“I have a lot in store for us!” Maxie heard him call from down the hall, his voice fading into nothing. The sound of the master bedroom door being opened and closed was enough to assure that the torment was ended for tonight.  
Yet, he still had the rest of the month.

Maxie let his body fall to the bed, rolling over and groaning into the pillows.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maxie made the poor mistake of accepting archie’s challenge of getting them into a committed relationship in one month’s time.  
> stepping into day four of being caught in archie’s web, maxie finds himself slowly relaxing, even if still cautious.  
> the personas they both put on for their teams slowly melt away, and maxie gets more opportunities to see more to archie than just team aqua and their petty rivalry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a quick update!  
> i am going to be trying to finish a chapter every week as my writing goal of the month!  
> however, in order to avoid posting it all at once, i will be staggering them.
> 
> if you'd like to read next week's chapter in advance, you can find it on my patreon under ingloriousfanfics!  
> otherwise, this fic will be updated march 28th! :D

When Maxie awoke, he couldn’t find Archie.  
The master bedroom’s door was swung open wide, and a quick, discreet side glance revealed the bed made, pillows tidy, and the curtains over the windows drawn back.  
Slowly walking down the carpeted hall, mindful of keeping his steps light and quiet, he found that the living room (and all two rooms with open doors in the hall) vacated as well.  
There were next to no signs of living, everything cleaned up, much to his surprise, given he anticipated Archie to be of the _messier_ sort.  
He certainly never displayed this level of organization in their encounters.

  
__Nearly__ did he begin to hold faith that Archie had foolishly found trust in him, surely built up from the past four days of his imprisonment.  
Gaze flitting to the door, he could nearly __taste__ his freedom, fantasizing of how he would make his escape back home.

  
Taking a step towards what would mark the end of this four-day torture session, Maxie’s hand reached, fingers curving in anticipation of turning the doorknob---

  
And his knee effectively bumped into Oceanus, nearly falling over as the excitable Mightyena pushed against him with his tongue lolling out of his slobbery mouth. Reflexively, the hand previously reaching for sweet, sweet freedom turned instead to Oceanus to give him a scritch behind the ear (he simply looked so __sweet__ with those big, doe eyes), envisioning how his own Mightyena loved her ears to be scratched and played with, wondering if Oceanus would take to it, too.  
Fingers tantalizingly close to soft fur, Maxie froze mid-reach, tilted his head up, and sniffed the air.  
  
Head swiveling, he looked in the direction of the __one__ place he had forgotten to check:  
The kitchen.

 

“Ey, Max-O! How do ya feel ‘bout pancakes?”  
Sticking his face out of the kitchen, as if __sensing__ Maxie’s thoughts, Archie’s cheeks were dusted with flour and dimpled with a grin.  
Barely out of view, Maxie saw the handle of a pan clasped in his hand.  
  
”You were sleepin’ so good, I couldn’t bring m’self t’ wake ya t’ ask,” Archie continued to holler, ducking back into the kitchen, presumably to finish cooking the pancake still in the pan.  
The sound of a pancake smacking onto a plate shortly after confirmed his suspicions.

 

“How… Thoughtful of you,” Maxie said, voice as dry as always. Pulling his hand away from Oceanus, he ignored his lingering, disappointed stare as he stepped to the side to peer further into the kitchen.  
It was rather quaint, painted in soft blues and browns, with decor that screamed __I love the ocean.__  
A ship in a bottle sat up on one of the cabinets, and there were varying knick-knacks abound, Maxie struggling to absorb the details of each and every one of them.  
From the homey looking sign saying in swirling blue ink ‘ _ _My home is by the sea__ ’, to the glass vase full of polished stones from the shoreline, it effectively reminded him both of the disgustingly ocean-loving persona Archie put on, and that of one of those modern magazines giving ideas for how to effectively decorate your beach house.

 

He wouldn’t have been surprised, with the craftiness of some of the things he spotted, if Archie had pulled inspiration from them.

 

Eyes slowly trailing to where the man himself stood at the stove, he felt his mouth begin to water as the rich, buttery aroma of the buttermilk pancakes. A stack steamed on a plate, and looking between the assortment of syrups Archie had out and the next pancake still cooking, Maxie __cringed__ as his stomach rumbled.  
”Well, yer majesty?”

 

Seemingly having heard, much to Maxie’s chagrin, Archie looking back with a conniving grin.  
Maxie hadn’t noticed until now that he was wearing a ‘kiss the chef’ apron, albeit ‘chef’ had been replaced with ‘sailor’.

 

“Will pancakes suit yer royal tastes?”  
  
With pride on the line, but hunger as well, Maxie dragged his eyes back down from glaring at Archie, to the warm, fluffy pancakes calling his name.  
”… Yes, pancakes will be __sufficient__.”

 

 

They ate mostly in silence, broken only by Oceanus’ hungry panting as he laid beneath the table and watched them enjoy their pancakes.  
Maxie, making sure Archie sat down first, sat at the opposing side as far away as possible, mumbling a begrudging __thank you__ when given a plate.  
  
Archie didn’t seem to mind the quiet, giving Maxie ample opportunity to strike up a conversation, and when he didn’t react, he didn’t push.  
  
Choosing one of the syrups made from oran berries, a healthy alternative to the sugary maple, Maxie used minimal butter and monitored how much syrup he used.  
When glancing up, he saw Archie’s pancakes covered in sugar, drenched in syrup, all on top of melting butter.  
He did his best not to roll his eyes at how childish he was in his over indulgence in sugar that would surely end up giving him a stomach ache later.

 

He also tried not to pay any mind to how Archie looked at __him__ while he ate.

 

 

“We’re goin’ t’ a contest. I think you’ll like it.”

  
”A contest?”

 

Swallowing his irritation at Archie’s lack of ability to __knock__ , making a mental note to teach this savage some common courtesy, Maxie finished pulling on his sweater.  
Archie’s eyes darted down to admire the sliver of skin that flashed, but quickly dragged back up at Maxie’s pointed growl.

 

“Yeah!” he said with a grin, hands settled on his hips. He looked rather triumphant.  
”Got us two tickets t’ see th’ great Juan show off his stuff! Y’know, if I didn’t have a guy on th’ inside, I dunno if we would be able to enjoy this grand ole opportunity.”  
Winking at him, Maxie’s answer was to roll his eyes, and shut the top drawer of his dresser--- _ _Archie’s__ , dresser.  
  
”Of __course__ you would be so fond of a water-loving coordinator,” Maxie grumbled.  
”What was that?”  
”I __said__ , how __wonderful__.”  
  
Speaking through gritted teeth and a fake smile, Maxie’s fingers dug into the drawer’s edge. Archie met him with a pleasant smile, warm and genuine, and Maxie wondered if __anything__ got underneath his skin.  
”Great! We’ll be leavin’ in ten. I gotta go spruce up, but ya already look __amazin’__ , so don’t worry ‘bout changin’ a thing, ‘kay?”  
  
Another wink, and Maxie was nearly gagging, fighting through it and giving a confirming nod, looking none-too-pleased.  
  
”If this pleasant day out on the town is with __you__ , I am certain it will be… A __blast__.”

 

 

When Archie had informed him that he had gotten __tickets__ , he had imagined them to be trapped at the very back of the contest stadium, overseeing the show from shoddy seats.  
He couldn’t __afford__ anything closer up with a sailor’s budget, Maxie figured, and as Archie showed an attendant their tickets, Maxie mentally prepared himself for a boring show of watching pokemon and coordinators the size of __ants__ perform for the crowd.

 

“Where ya goin’, Max?”  
  
Biting his tongue to keep from correcting him (he wasn’t going to get snippy in public, being trapped with Archie was humiliating enough), Maxie withdrew from the stairs up to the top seats to scowl.  
”Front row tickets, man,” Archie quickly added upon Maxie opening his mouth, flashing a white-toothed smile as he flipped the tickets around.

 

“I told ya I had a guy on the inside.”

  
Nearly informing him of how he had thought that to be a __joke__ , now seriously wondering who this ‘guy on the inside’ was, Maxie blinked, stepped off the first stair, and glanced towards the path to the front row seats.  
”C’mon, they got ‘em numbered, and ours ain’t far from here,” Archie chirruped, reaching out for Maxie’s hand.  
His fingers had already begun to curl around it when Maxie snapped back as if burned, clutching the offended hand in the other, and Archie was just as quick to pull his own back.

 

“I can walk myself just __fine__ , thank you.”  
”Jeez, Max, I’m sorry, didn’t think ya----”  
”It’s MAXIE. And no, you __didn’t__ think. Keep walking. You’re holding up the line.”  
  
As Archie pursed his lips and turned to lead the way, stepping aside to allow those behind them to continue to their seats, Maxie thought idly about how Archie’s hurt look, as brief as it was, looked so similar to Oceanus’.

 

Juan was the very __epitome__ of perfection, and even Maxie could not deny the splendor and whimsical charm of a coordinator who knew what he was doing.  
His Kingdra surged up from the pool and soared into the air, water droplets glimmering and turning to ice around them, and __burst__ into a flurry of snow.  
The crowd roared, and so did Archie, practically leaping out of his seat as Kingdra gracefully dived back into the water, surging back up to return to Juan to begin the next part of the final act.

 

The true contest had ended long before, and much to Maxie’s surprise, Juan had only been a judge, not a contestant.  
With a closer look at the tickets, he noted that this marked the fortieth anniversary of Juan’s involvement in Hoenn’s contests.  
  
”Did ya see how Kingdra stuck that landin’?! Damn, when I dive back into th’ water from that kinda height, my landin’ ain’t nearly as graceful!”  
Archie laughed as he plopped back into his seat, Juan’s pokemon gathering together to prep for the grand finale, the music accompanying their act quieting.  
The crowd hummed in excitement, and when Maxie looked up from his hard scrutiny of their tickets, he noted how giddy and flushed Archie looked.  
It was almost… __Cute__ , how pure his excitement for the whole event was.

 

Maxie quickly looked away, and flipped the tickets over to observe their backside.

 

“Mhm,” he answered, careful to remain level and cool. For he, the great Maxie, leader of Team Magma, to show such __unruly__ excitement in the face of a mere water pokemon’s showy bit of splashing about would be disastrous.  
Even if silently, quietly within the safety of his own private mind, he conceded that it was a beautiful spectacular, to give Archie that satisfaction would be __kindred__ to death.

 

“Y’know, I always wanted t’ be a coordinator like Juan.”  
__That__ was enough to get Maxie to stop eye-balling the tickets as if they were made of gold.  
”Really?”  
”Really.”  
  
Looking back to him, away from Juan and his Walrein on the main stage, Archie was smiling, and realizing he still looked utterly dumbfounded, Maxie scrunched up his face glanced away.  
”Used t’ love how he seemed t’… __Click__ with his pokemon, y’know? Back in those days, he actually __swam__ wit’ ‘em an’ everythin’, and they were so, completely in sync. It was like he and ‘em shared a mind. And I really wanted that wit’ my pokemon.”  
  
Risking looking back, cautious of Archie teasing him for his expression from before, Maxie was a touch taken aback by the dreamy look, borderline __wistful__ , the other leader bore.  
There was none of that childish teasing, no jabbing at how he had looked so stupidly amazed, none of that.  
It was strange seeing something from the other that didn’t involve him mocking his sweater, or trying to steal his glasses.

 

“... Did you ever try?”  
”Huh?”  
  
The moment shattered, and Archie went from dreamily admiring Juan as he sent Walrein down deep into the clear blue water, to staring in shock at Maxie’s question.  
He had half the mind to tease him about how ridiculous he looked.

 

“You heard me. Did you ever try----to be like Juan?”  
  
Able to tell Archie was struggling not to point out how __surprising__ it was that Maxie was willingly letting the conversation carry on, he instead smiled, looking down into his lap and fiddling his thumbs.  
”Lil’ bit. I ain’t got th’ coordination nor th’ chops t’ be dancin’ ‘round these big ole crowds. It was fun fer a bit, my Ma liked seein’ me get excited ‘bout somethin’, but it petered out eventually.”  
  
”I think you would have made a fine coordinator.”  
  
Archie flushed, tanned skin turning as red as Maxie’s sweater, and Maxie had to look away, hiding his smirk beneath a carefully placed hand scratching at his cheek.  
”You should have carried on with it. Then, I would not have to be dealing with you now.”

Archie laughed, the moment of being flustered coming to pass quickly with Maxie’s added comment, and he turned back around to properly watch the show.  
  
”Well, ain’t changin’ it now. Yer stuck with me, Max.”  
  
For the first time that day, Maxie didn’t feel the need to correct him.

 

 

“ _ _Ahhhhh__ , that was amazin’!”  
Stretching outside the contest hall, Archie gave a happy sigh as his arms flopped back down and dug his hands into his pockets.  
”So, whattya wanna do next?”  
  
”What do __I__ want to do next?”  
  
He had been spacing out, waiting for Archie to drag him off to the next destination, taken entirely aback that he was even being __offered__ a choice.  
Mouth agape, floundering like a beached Magikarp, he looked around, struggling to come up with something, __anything__.  
Half of him wanted to sardonically suggest that Archie let him go home, while the other was surprisingly… __Genuine__ , in wanting to find something for them to do.  
  
”… Frankly, I don’t know much about Lilycove,” Maxie eventually conceded with a shameful sigh, scratching at the back of his neck. “I do not know what there is to be done in these parts.”  
  
”That’s fine!”  
”It is?”  
  
”Yeah!” Archie smiled, looking like the human embodiment of a ray of sunshine. Maxie found it somewhat obnoxious (but another part of him found it endearing, as much as he was unable to admit it). “Y’know, I think th’ contest was ‘nough for me, we can do some more stuff another day. How ‘bout we grab some grub?”  
  
Food. That wasn’t actually a shabby idea, and relieved the pressure of having to engage in something that Maxie would want no part of.  
Who knew what else Archie had up his sleeve?  
The contest had been tolerable, but he was certain it was nothing more than a warm up to the main event… Whatever that may be.

 

“Fine,” Maxie agreed, smoothing out the wrinkles in his sweater, frowning as he picked off a piece of popcorn that had stuck to the shoulder.  
”But I get to pick where we go.”  
  
Archie shrugged.  
”Sure. Didn’t you just say ya don’t know squat ‘bout Lilycove, though?”  
”Shut up.”

 

 

Maxie __still__ definitely didn’t know enough about Lilycove to pick them out a suitable restaurant, and had managed to select one of the __worst__.

 

Staring in silent regret at the somehow burnt pasta on his plate----how did they manage to BURN PASTA?----he poked at one of the raviolis with his fork, and flinched when it __hissed__ from air rapidly being released.  
”Ya should’ve let me pick the restaurant.”  
”Well, I wanted a turn. Next time, take me to Slateport, and I’ll show you all around.”  
”Is that an offer?”

 

Freezing, fork mid-stab, Maxie looked up to Archie, who was in the midst of gnawing on a stiff breadstick.  
He couldn’t tell if he was smiling around the edges of it, or was struggling with getting his teeth into it __that__ much.

 

“Is that where ya grew up?” Archie asked, and Maxie wondered if he had seen how much he had balked at the idea of showing him around.  
Probably.  
”Yes.” He stabbed at a piece of ravioli for no other reason than to procrastinate. “It is a lovely city, and all I knew for a long time.”  
  
”Yer parents chose a good place t’ bring ya up in.”  
”Grandparents.”  
”… Grandparents.”  
  
Seeming to be turning over the word over and over in his head, Archie stopped gnawing on his bread altogether when it clicked.  
”Oh! __Grandparents!__ Er, uh, I’m sorry fer assumin’, I didn’t---”  
”You’re fine, don’t make it a bigger deal than it needs be. My parents weren’t capable of caring for me, so I went into the care of my father’s parents. There is nothing more to it.”  
  
Waving a dismissive hand, abandoning his plate altogether, as __appetizing__ as burnt cheese and meat looked.  
”May their souls rest in peace, they had done their best, and they were wonderful guardians.”  
”Well, I can imagine! They raised ya, didn’t they? And look at ya---they raised a genius!”  
Taken aback, Maxie’s fork, once being used to idly play with the food he found no reason to eat, accidentally stabbed one of the ravioli, and sent it __flying__.

 

It all seemed to happen in slow-motion; the ravioli flipping up from the plate, his half-second-too-late reaction to seeing it fly up, how Archie’s expression went from soft and kind (When had he begun to look like that, without that typical, taunting look Maxie thought had been glued to his face?), to blank shock at the saucy missile heading straight for him.  
Maxie didn’t have enough time to save him, and watched in mute horror as the ravioli __splat__ all over his chest, and oozed down to his jeans.

 

“Oh, __hell__ , I’m sorry, I didn’t, I didn’t mean----”  
He was already half out of his chair, grabbing one of the fancy napkins----one of the ONLY good things about the restaurant----and going to Archie before the Aqua leader could pop open his mouth to reply.  
It was all thoughtless, trying to mop up the mess made on Archie’s nice gray shirt, cringing when it managed to stain even more, wondering if maybe if he could wash it out----

 

“... Y’know, I’ve never heard ya cuss before.”  
Maxie slowly looked up, offending ravioli clasped in the soiled napkin. Despite everything, Archie was back to smiling, even __chuckling__.  
”Th’ Great an’ Powerful Maxie, __cussin’__. Thought ya were too refined or some shit, and yet, all it took was a lil’ __ravioli__.”  
  
The more he spoke, the more his mirth bubbled up, light chuckles turning into hardy laughter, to the point where Archie was shaking from the hysterics of it all.  
Back to being bright red, Maxie sputtered, folding up the napkin and setting it on the table.

 

“It was a gut reaction! I am not typically so __uncultured__ , so don’t go---”  
”I like it. Makes ya feel more… __Real__.”  
  
Maxie was suddenly glad he no longer had the fork in his hand, fearful of a __second__ incident from Archie’s words and the way he looked at him.  
He hated how his eyes looked… How they looked so __gentle__.

 

“Welp, I think that was ‘nough fun for me today!”  
Sliding out of the booth, he fished out his wallet and placed some bills on the table, tucking it back into his back pocket after.  
”How ‘bout we head home and I cook us somethin’ __actually__ edible, eh?”  
  
Maxie opened his mouth, and proceeded to shut it again, turning to instead wipe what remained of the ravioli onto the soiled napkin, and slowly, cautiously nod.  
”That sounds fine,” he said, quietly double-checking that Archie had put enough down for the bill, and straightened up.

  
”We can go to yer place tomorrow… To get yer clothes, I mean.”  
  
Halfway headed to the door, Archie, picking off some of the pasta from his shirt, glanced back to Maxie, as if trying to gauge his reaction.  
”I mean, ‘less ya wanna go shoppin’ again---”  
”Going home to get my clothing will be superb, thank you.”  
  
Clearing his throat, and quickly joining Archie in leaving, he made a point of looking at the ground, admiring the tiling---one of the only good features of the restaurant---until it turned to pavement.  
”… I’m… Sorry, for the terrible lunch.”  
”What? Why’re ya sorry?”

“The ravioli? The inedible food? _ _Everything?__ ”  
  
Looking at him, flabbergasted that Archie wasn’t seeming to click with all the things that had gone wrong because of his poor decision making, he wasn’t given the reaction he wanted.  
The reaction he __wanted__ was for Archie to agree, and admit it WAS awful, but instead he…  
__Laughed__.  
  
Booming and shoulder-shaking, the kind that bubbled up and spilled out without being forced.  
All with Maxie looking on, still looking just as flabbergasted with his reaction.

 

“Ah, Max, yer __funny__. An’ that whole restaurant thing WAS funny. If I didn’t wanna deal wit’ it, I would’ve jus’ __walked on out__ ,” Archie laughed, shaking his head.  
Peaking over, he grinned, and bumped shoulders with Maxie.  
”When I take ya t’ Slateport t’ get yer stuff, ya can have another try, and take us to one of yer favorite spots t’ eat. I’d love t’ see Slateport from yer eyes.”  
  
Grunting, Maxie folded his arms over his chest as they walked, watching Lilycove pass them by as they went back to Archie’s home.  
”It certainly will be a nice change of scenery.”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as per his promise, archie takes maxie home to pick up his clothes for the rest of his month-long torture session of being wooed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stay tuned to my patreon over @ ingloriousfanfics for chapter five! it'll be released a week before i upload it here :D

“Man, THIS is where you live?”  
Maxie tried his best not to mind Archie’s flabbergasted look, and tried even harder to not get furious when he tromped on in without taking off his shoes.

  
”Shoes are off when you are on the hardwood,” came his terse reply, removing his coat and hanging it up in the entry closet.  
”Whoops, sorry. But can ya blame me for bein’ surprised? When ya said ya lived down here, I didn’t think ya were this fancy.”

  
Archie paused in slipping off his shoes and putting them next to Maxie’s, offering him a sheepish smile.  
”No offense.”  
”None taken. While Magma is a non-profit organization, I have accumulated enough funds to be able to live like this, yes.”  
A penthouse in Slateport was no laughing matter, given the high tourism and the even __higher__ rate of owning any property within it.  
Despite his mild irritation at how __loud__ Archie was being about it, he could not deny the note of pride in taking him off guard.

  
”Man, yer even fond of red here, huh?”  
Maxie fought not to roll his eyes, stepping past Archie and navigating to the hallway to the bedrooms.  
”We aren’t here to discuss my sense of style. We’re here to pack some clothes.”  
  
From surveying Maxie’s flatscreen and the dog bed situated in the corner, Archie was quick to whip around and trot after Maxie’s heels like an excited puppy, peering down the hall, and admiring the art pieces of Mt. Chimney on the wall.  
”Did you paint these?”  
”No. I bought them.”  
”Huh. I always thought ya would be th’ paintin’ type. Guess I’ll scratch that off the list.”  
  
Pausing outside of his bedroom door, hand hovering over the handle, Maxie cast back a sharp glare, to which Archie froze.  
”Can you not stay out in the living room?”  
Promptly melting, muscles going lax, Archie gave a short laugh.  
”What, ya got some dirty toys ya don’t want me t’ see~?”  
  
Making a short noise of disgust with a harsh shake of the head, Maxie turned back.  
”I would just like __one__ moment of privacy, rather than having you breathe down my neck the entire time. Is this how you go about wooing __all__ of your lovers?”  
  
__That__ seemed to do the trick, Archie going from playful to mildly insulted, giving a soft huff as he folded his arms over his broad chest.  
”Fine then. Imma dig ‘round yer kitchen. Don’t forget to pack yer undies, Max.”  
With that last, teasing note, he was gone, quick to trot off to the kitchen and likely dig around for some near-spoiled treats lurking in the fridge and cabinets.  
And Maxie felt all-too-thankful, releasing a breath with a slump of his shoulders, giving himself a moment to relax before letting the door swing open, and stepping in.

 

His bedroom was exactly as he had left it, perfectly immaculate with the sheets pressed and blankets without a wrinkle.  
For a moment did he yearn to snuggle up within them, to draw back the soft red curtains and take a nap before he inevitably had to return to the blue hellhole that was Archie’s home.  
Fingers brushing against the edge of the comforter, idly thinking of the book he had last read under the lamp on his nightstand, a distant crash in the kitchen jolted him from his nostalgia, and brought harsh lines to his peaceful expression.

  
”Sorry! Didn’t see th’ blender there!”  
  
Pinching the bridge of his nose with a low growl, he counted to ten, and then went to his closet to find a bag to put his clothes into.

 

Ten minutes and fifty four seconds of rummaging through and ranking articles of clothing from least to most important, a wardrobe was made and meticulously stashed away into his bag.  
Feeling confident that this, combined with the clothes bought from their prior shopping trip, would last him for the remainder of the month---with plenty of washing.  
Double-checking he had everything he needed from his closet, he was doubly as quick to vanish into the master bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush, toothpaste, and other essential items such as hair conditioner and skin-sensitive soap.  
Tucking each into the specialized pockets of the bag, slinging it over his shoulder he quietly stepped out of the bedroom.

 

Pausing for a moment, waiting for some noise from Archie, upon hearing nothing, he frowned.  
”It is __far__ too quiet out here---” he started, only to pause, noticing one of the other doors opened. Trying to decide why Archie would have gone in, he pushed it open further, only to freeze.  
  
”Hm?”  
Archie glanced back, knelt before the small shrine dedicated to his grandparents, and smiled, slowly getting up and smoothing the wrinkles out of his knees.  
”Sorry, didn’t mean t’ barge in on ‘em. I was bein’ a snoop, an’ then decided t’ apologize while payin’ my respects.”  
His smile was sheepish, only to warm when looking back upon the shrine, his eyes gaining a softness that made Maxie uncomfortable in how soothing it felt.  
  
”I am sure they would have appreciated you coming. Likely not the __snooping__ , but my grandfather likely would have found it humorous,” Maxie said, his eyes settling upon the framed photograph of the pair together, smiling into the camera with their hands intertwined.  
Barely in the shot, he could see red hair, and he hoped Archie hadn’t noticed.  
  
”An’ I think I can safely assume th’ lil scamp tryin’ to pop up from th’ bottom was you?”  
Was Archie a mind reader in his past life?  
”Yes,” he grumbled, stepping over to rearrange one of the vases, his fingers brushing the petals of the flowers in it before nudging it gently so that it was perfectly centered.  
”I was no scamp. I was a well-mannered young boy.”  
”Ya certainly didn’t get yer grandpa’s sense of humor, that’s for sure.”  
  
Clapping Maxie on the shoulder, and giving a hearty laugh at the rosy flush that came to his cheeks, Archie carefully stepped around him and back into the main hall.  
”I added water t’ th’ vases. We’ll make sure t’ stop by again t’ give ‘em fresh flowers, too. I know a good shop in Lilycove, an’ they have some lovely ones.”

 

His hand rested on the doorframe, and the mirth that had once lit up his face returned to that __damned__ softness Maxie despised.  
It was gentle, kind, and __everything__ he did not want Archie to be.  
  
”Are ya ready?”  
  
Oblivious to the fact that he had been openly staring, Maxie cleared his throat and shoved on by.  
”Yes. I’ll meet you out front, I have one more thing to be grabbing.”  
Blinking, as if trying to understand what it may be that Maxie needed, Archie shrugged.  
  
”Sure. We’re gettin’ lunch after this, by the by. I ain’t eatin’ that health crap you got stuffed into your kitchen.”  
And like that, as if he had never been there (aside from the broken blender Maxie would eventually discover jammed back into a cabinet), he vanished, putting on his shoes and coat and out the door.  
However, he was all too aware that he would just be waiting outside, likely back to his boisterous, loud self.  
His ears ached at the thought of enduring any more of his booming voice.

 

Maxie lingered in the shrine room for a couple seconds longer, wondering what advice his grandparents would be offering him now were they with him, and shut the door.  
  
Quickly, he went to the living room, going to his desk in the corner and pulling a pad of paper out of a drawer.  
Beginning to scrawl a note, he froze when hearing Archie holler.  
”What’s takin’ ya so long, Max? Did ya __hide__ th’ thing ya need or somethin’?”  
”Be patient,” he snapped back, checking to ensure he hadn’t opened the door, and finishing the note.  
  
Hesitating, looking it back over, he stepped back at Archie’s second, impatient noise behind the door, growling as he readjusted his bag.  
”I’m coming, I’m __coming__. You need to learn to be more patient.”  
  
Slipping on his shoes and grabbing his coat, with a little bit of adjustment of his bag, he had it on and was out the door.  
”I told ya when we came by that you’d get t’ pick where we go,” Archie chirruped, all too chipper now that Maxie was out of the penthouse.  
He did not seem to notice Maxie pushing his keys back into his pocket without locking the door, looking ahead with thoughts fixated on food.

  
”Yes, I already have a place in mind,” Maxie sighed, and as they walked away, thought of the restaurant he had already picked out, instead of what he had left behind.

 

 

“Leader Maxie?”  
Door unlocked, mud on the wood flooring… anyone could have taken a swing at any of the number of possibilities of what had happened.  
Maxie absent for a week from the Magma base, and for his penthouse to be left in this condition when typically so meticulous?  
  
Letting the door swing open, the spare key ready to unlock it pushed back into her pocket, Courtney surveyed the main entry, slowly walking in.  
”Leader Maxie?” she repeated, voice rising a note higher, glancing down the hall and then into the kitchen, hoping that perhaps he simply hadn’t heard her.  
Perhaps he had gone back into a drinking spell, and this was simply the result of drunken mindlessness.  
  
”Leader---”  
His name died in her throat, pausing when seeing Maxie’s unmistakable handwriting on the pad of paper on his desk.  
Nearly ripping off the top page in her stumbling grab, she quickly steadied herself, face keeping its neutral expression even with her churning stomach.  
Had he been kidnapped?  
Was he being held for ransom?  
__Was this a vile act of Team Aqua?__

 

“… Ah.”  
Rereading the note three times over, ensuring she had captured every detail, Courtney withdrew her PokeNav, dialing Tabitha.  
  
”… We need to talk.”


End file.
